


Weathering the storm

by Viola_Laterra



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: COVID-19, California, California Coast, Coronavirus, Gen, M/M, Pandemics, Shelter-in-Place, Vacation, human ingenuity, social distancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viola_Laterra/pseuds/Viola_Laterra
Summary: Aziraphale and Crowley had planned a visit to the California wine country, when a global pandemic -- and some rain -- puts a damper on their vacation.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Weathering the storm

“It’s a shame, really.”

Crowley tossed a look across at Aziraphale. “What?”

Aziraphale shut the book he was reading and removed his reading glasses thoughtfully.

Then he hesitated. “Well, it’s silly thought. I mean, given all the suffering. Probably should keep it to myself.”

“That’s never stopped you before.” Crowley grinned toothily. “And I know what a fan you are of suffering.”

Aziraphale frowned at him. “Well. It’s just that ‘corona’ is such a beautiful word.”

Crowley made a rude sound. 

“Really! Like, the corona of the sun... all brightness, light... beauty.”

“Like a halo, you mean. Angelic.” Crowley drawled.

Aziraphale sighed. “Well, anyway, now it’s associated with all this chaos on account of the virus.”

Crowley folded up the newspaper and stood and walked across the room. “Yes, and you thought this would be a good time to come visit sunny California.”

Indignant, Aziraphale said, “Well, it was! Spring is wonderful for wildflowers in the wine country. And the weather is nearly always good here.”

Crowley peered out the window. “Except that now it’s raining.”

Aziraphale put his book aside and went to the kitchen. “Well, you know it doesn’t much matter where we are during all this. Won’t affect us, physically, you know. And even in the rain, it is lovely up here on the coast.”

Crowley muttered grudgingly, “It is, that. I mean, I can’t ever figure out why, though. Not like we don’t have rainy oceans and rocky cliffs in the good old UK.”

Aziraphale pulled out a bottle of white wine from the small refrigerator and went looking for the corkscrew. He said over his shoulder as he rifled through a utensil drawer, “Well, there’s something about the kind of storms they get, coming down from Alaska. And something about... I don’t know, the shape of the cliffs. It’s not quite the same. More... more romantic, somehow.”

Crowley laughed. “Well,” he said noncommittally, gazing out at the coastline for a moment. Then: “At least all this pandemic business means vacation houses like this one aren’t... inhabited.” He said the last word lingeringly, almost flirtatiously, dangling it like a lure.

Apparently oblivious, Aziraphale suddenly said, “Ah!” He turned back to Crowley, holding the corkscrew. “These people just don’t know how to organize a kitchen, now do they?” He opened the wine and pulled out a glass for himself. “You?” he asked Crowley.

“Yeah.” Aziraphale pulled out a second glass and poured a generous amount into each of them. He put the cork back in the wine bottle, put the bottle back in the fridge, and joined Crowley at the window.

“Well, I’ll just make sure the owners end up with a fortuitous windfall a bit later this year, after all this mess clears up.” Aziraphale handed the other glass to Crowley.

Crowley made a vague sound of assent and started contemplatively sipping his wine.

“The Californians *do* know how to make wine, I’ll give them that,” he said.

“They do, don’t they?” Aziraphale agreed. "A shame we can't actually visit the wineries this time." The two of them watched the waves for a while, crashing against the steep cliffs below the house. The steel grey expanse of the ocean stretched out to either side of them, off into the distance, where light from beyond the storm-clouds illuminated it in patches.

Aziraphale mused, “It *is* a pity, too, that everyone is so afraid. So alone.”

Crowley grunted. “Well, people certainly are easy to rattle. Still, they’re even more on edge than I’d expected.”

Aziraphale turned to him. “Expected?” Suddenly a knowing and suspicious look crept into his eyes. “Crowley, what have you been up to?” he said accusingly.

Crowley sighed, looked sideways at the angel. He said, a touch guiltily, “Well, I may have said to a few people, ‘I wonder how long your toilet paper is going to hold out?’ How was I to know that it would catch on like this? What country that calls itself ‘the leader of the free world’ runs out of toilet paper in an emergency?”

“Crowley! Really, I thought this was supposed to be a vacation,” Aziraphale said, exasperated.

Crowley actually looked a little chastised. “Well, old habits, you know. I think they’re getting it under control now, supply lines and all that. Stores not letting people buy more than two packages at a go, and so on.”

Aziraphale suddenly looked a little guilty himself. "I... I suppose I can't blame you, too much. For old habits, I mean." He paused and took a big swallow of wine. "I... I *may* have breathed a few words into some scientists' ears, and some of the state leadership, that maybe it would work well if everyone were to stay at home for a little while. Slow the spread of the virus, make it so they will have hospital facilities available for people if they need them."

Crowley sipped his wine, a grin creeping across his face. "Well. So, we've canceled each other out again, eh? They say this thing's like a bad flu. Humans will survive it. Not like the Apocalypse, or anything."

Aziraphale suddenly looked pained. He said, "Well, that may be true of course, but some of my friends -- I've known them a long time, mind you -- some of them are now very old. And the virus *is* much more dangerous for them. I'd hate to lose them, you know?"

Crowley chuckled. He slipped his free arm around Aziraphale and said, "I'm sure it will work out. I've done my bit, thrown a challenge in their path, and you've done your bit, helping them figure out how to surmount it, yeah? So now we just sit back and watch and see how they do."

Aziraphale relaxed just a little bit into Crowley. "Well, I suppose so. Still, I worry about them all."

Crowley sighed. "Well, that's why the Plan certainly is ineffable, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Aziraphale said. The two of them stood there sipping their wine, watching the rain fall in light curtains across the steel-grey ocean and the green-brown bluffs. "I do hope they'll find ways to connect to each other, with all this 'distancing' they're doing. Even if it is a good idea."

Crowley drawled to him, "Humans always do. They're clever buggers."

Aziraphale smiled a little. "They certainly are," he said softly. "They certainly are."


End file.
